Thinking developmentally about counterfactual possibilities. Commentary on Bryne's The Rational Imagination

Byrne implies that working memory development underpins children's ability to represent counterfactuals as possibilities at 3 to 4 years of age. Recent findings suggest that (1) developments in the ability to consider alternatives to reality in children of this age are underpinned by improvements in inhibitory control, not working memory, and (2) children do not develop all understanding of counterfactuals as possibilities until mid-childhood.